This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
I was flying into the seaplane base on the VFR arrival procedure at 1,200 MSL.
After contacting the tower and being assigned the route arrival procedure, the tower called out traffic for me 1 o’clock, altitude unknown. I told the tower I was searching for the traffic.
The tower told the conflict aircraft my position and they called me in sight.
As I continued to search for the traffic, an aircraft appeared at my 12 o’clock at extremely close range and my altitude head on. I had little to no time to react but attempted to push forward and descend and avoid a collision. But my aircraft and the conflict traffic collided head on.
My aircraft continued to be controllable and I slowed the aircraft to reduce the risk of structural failure. I could not see any obvious damage from the cockpit, but had heard and felt the impact.
I told the tower I believed I have had a mid air collision and requested the tower to ask the other aircraft if they we OK. I don’t know if anyone responded to the tower.
I continued into ZZZ and landed in the water lane without further incident.
Upon parking the aircraft in the float slip I inspected the aircraft and found minor damage to the right hand fiberglass wingtip from the collision. No other damage has been discovered at this point.
I called the tower on my cell phone and told them I had made contact with the other aircraft. I then called the FAA and reported the mid air collision.
My aircraft is ADS-B equipped, but I believe the other aircraft was not. I never received any warning on my traffic display and I know it was working from other aircraft warnings on the same flight earlier.
I still do not know the identity of the other aircraft.
That area is a high traffic area and possible collision risk. I have operated out of ZZZ for XX plus years without incident. I believe if the other aircraft had ADS-B and or Mode C we could have avoided the collision.
I don’t know what could have been done better with the exception of ADS-B on the other aircraft. I honestly feel lucky to be alive.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 1836859
What puzzles me is the other pilot never filed a report! My ADS-B has alerted me a number of times in congested areas. It has been well worth the expense.
**IT happens. However, if it is really close turning takes to long you must dive or climb. Birds dive. Flip a coin.
Totally agree and as far as other comments about the “standard” right turn to avoid head-on traffic. If the reporting aircraft had turned right instead of diving it would be quite possible that the collision would have been much worse than a wing tip.
I still contemplating. Opposing traffic at your 12:00 o’clock, same altitude, head on, you dive, hit them with your right wing tip. You didn’t see them in prevailing see and avoid conditions but know they weren’t on your ADSB. Apparently you weren’t visually scanning, and hitting with the right wingtip isn’t exactly a head on collision…more like clipped.
Curious also they reported seeing you and apparently thought there was sufficient clearance since you don’t mention an evasive action on their part. They either saw the wrong aircraft, which apparently ATC wasn’t reporting, or you panicked and dove into them…..maybe.
There was NO mention of WX or visibility conditions at the time. AND there was no mention of aircraft ‘type’ [high-wing, low wing, helo, etc]. I’m sorta surprised.
I’ve had [3] close calls… in poor daylight visibility. In each case I explicitly recall high solid overcast with low contrast daylight… and being over rugged countryside. I can also remember the basic aircraft types and their orientation… as they flashed thru my view and registered in my brain. And all of them appeared/disappeared quickly.
Mooney from high/right behind me… descending over me, So-Cal, over hilly scrub. I pushed-over to low/negative G for positive clearance. It may not have even seen me.
Piper-above-Cessna-below… me in-between… while crossing over the Buckeye VORTAC in the middle of the desert, roughly the same ‘westerly direction’, same altitude, seconds apart. My dad warned me about VOR intersection congestion.
737-100 or 200 descending from my right directly at me… it didn’t move… just grew bigger quickly… over mountains east of Santa Barbara CA. I pulled-up hard went right over them [by a couple of hundred feet]… and saw at least one face looking up at me.
Several questions. Why wasn’t a traffic alert issued? Why didn’t the other pilot maintain separation if he had the reporting pilot in sight? Why wasn’t converging paths reported and a heading change suggested? Even when an aircraft doesn’t report altitude electronically, it can be requested directly from the pilot (probably preferably through the tower) so that vertical separation can be managed. This all assumes the other pilot who had the reporting pilot in sight and talking to the tower was the one involved in the collision.
Failing to use the OUTSIDE WORLD INDICATOR and expecting the tower or ADS-B to alert means the pilot’s eyes were not scanning for traffic.
FAR 91 turn right if head on.
I agree follow the rules …… in this case:FAR 91 turn right if head on
the decision of going up or down could be taken by both pilots in the same direction(both may descend or climb in the same time) stick to the rules
It says in the report he was looking and the tower indicated the aircraft was at his one o’clock. This is a seaplane base so follow the river. Given the altitude and distance if he did anything other then dive would have been fatal. Turning would raise the wing and put it in the other cockpit, thus loose the wing.
Like hammering nails if you look at the finger and not the nail, you’ll hit the finger. I don’t think ads-b or having all lights on would have prevented this unknown nimrod from trying to play bumper cars. As the old saying goes, “just because you are paranoid it does’t mean THEY are not out to get you”. (Now if I can only get an A-10)